Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has accused governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of preparing the ground for anarchy in the country through their utterances over redesign of some Naira notes.
In a statement by his special assistant on public communications, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, the PDP candidate, sympathised with Nigerians over the hardship they are facing over the Naira scarcity.
Shaibu, however, said the inciting comments by some APC governors wherein they threatened to shut banks rejecting the old notes had emboldened rioters to burn down commercial banks.
He said Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, who had threatened to revoke the certificate of occupancy of banks rejecting the old notes, was acting like a dictator whose utterances have evoked rebellious actions.
Atiku’s aide said, “The President made it clear that the old N1,000 and N500 notes are no longer legal tender. Those who are dissatisfied with the President’s proclamation should go to court rather than resort to self-help. Two wrongs do not make a right.
“Governor Dapo Abiodun, who is the number one citizen of Ogun State, ought to know better. However, he has been threatening to revoke the C of O of banks that obey the President’s proclamation. This act of defiance has evoked rebellion, hence the riots and burning of banks in Sagamu, Abeokuta, and Mowe.”
Shaibu also noted that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State had accused APC chieftain, Adams Oshiomhole, of sponsoring the riots in Benin, which he said was clear evidence that the APC was behind the riots.
“Oshiomhole is one of the biggest critics of the naira redesign policy. It is not surprising that Governor Obaseki, who is the chief security officer of the state, has established that Oshiomhole is behind the riots. The APC really needs to stop provoking these riots,” he said.
Shaibu also knocked Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State for trying to provoke civil disobedience in their states.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu has lashed back at his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, saying he is a chameleonic politician whose desperation for power has made him become insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.
He regretted that with just five days to the presidential poll, Atiku wanted to cash in on the mood of the country with what he termed the “latest faux empathy” of the former vice president.
Recalling that Atiku once described the suffering Nigerians are going through as some “little inconvenience”, the former Lagos governor said in his “inconsistencies and unreliability, Atiku has advanced several contradictory positions, in the fruitless hope of gaining political advantage from the” Naira scarcity.
In a statement by the director of media and publicity of the APC presidential campaign council, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu asked Nigerians to run away from Atiku, noting that a “man like the PDP candidate with no strong conviction and strength of character cannot offer the kind of leadership our country needs.”
The statement read in part, “It is generally a bad time for poor and hapless Nigerians as currency scarcity has become the norm. The chameleonic politician forgot that he once described the suffering our people are going through some ‘little inconvenience”.
“We recognise Atiku’s desperation to be president and like a chameleon, this unprincipled and unstable politician will change positions on any issue as long as he thinks it will help his perennial ambition.
“Nigeria needs a consistent and steady leader who will stand firm and upright when it is convenient and when it is not convenient. Asiwaju Tinubu is that kind of leader and he has demonstrated that by his principled stand on the current crisis. He has also offered a six-point solution to get the country out of the current morass.”
Tinubu recalled that Atiku “and his hopeless party” first applauded the CBN policy when they initially thought it was a policy deliberately designed to stop him from becoming the next elected president of Nigeria.
“Atiku called on President Muhammadu Buhari and CBN governor to ensure strict implementation of the policy and the deadline of 31 January because in his and party’s short-sightedness and gross miscalculation, Tinubu was the prime target.
“Atiku’s position exploded on his face when the unintended consequences of the CBN policy manifested in its full ramifications and crippled the entire populace.
“Atiku capitulated and sought to claim some credit by asking the CBN to ‘slightly shift’ the deadline of 31 January 2023.
“The CBN and the FG to which Atiku and his party have suddenly become the cheerleaders listened to all the voices of reason and shifted the deadline for the currency swap till 10 February.
“Amid the widespread misery and the currency scarcity that the Naira swap policy created for Nigerians, Atiku’s position proved once again an egregious miscalculation and clearly anti-people,” Onanuga stated.
